FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT NIGHTMARE - PAGE 3

When Jeff Alm was about 6, his family moved from Rye, N.Y., to a new home in Marlboro, N.J. The furniture hadn't been delivered, the cartons were still unpacked, when Jeff's father Larry noticed that one of his three children had scribbled an obscenity on a freshly painted wall. Debbie, four years older than Jeff, certainly hadn't done it. It had to be Jeff or Lance, who was two years older than Jeff, and Jeff's idol. Larry and his wife Betty decided to let the police teach their mischievous boys a lesson.

The kooky, spooky "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas," opening Friday, is a stop-action animation extravaganza. It's so lifelike it makes "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" look like "Beavis and Butt-Head." Stop-action animation is the process of photographing puppets and objects at split-second intervals to make them look like they're moving. Director Henry Selick knows all about it: He created the Pillsbury Doughboy and shot the cool, animated MTV promos. "Nightmare" took 2 1/2 years to make.

Reader Kevin Theis' Sept. 14 letter to the editor stated that he's dreaming of $5 a gallon for gas. I don't know what kind of dream that Theis is thinking about, but that would be a nightmare for the rest of us. The cost of transportation is built into everything that we buy, so Theis might not so happy once that high gas price shows up in the cost of a gallon of milk that he buys. Even people who take public transportation will have to pay more once gas hits $5 a gallon.

As an experienced Halloweener, I have noticed a disturbing trend over the last few years. As Halloween becomes more commercialized and homogenized, much of the fun of the pranksters' holiday is being drained like blood from a vampire feast. Instead of trick-or-treating until the late hours of the night, some children are encouraged by local PTAs and other do-gooders to trick-or-treat in the light. Some even commit the sacrilege of skipping the door-to-door beggary in favor of lame, school-sponsored parties.

Most movies having anything to do with Halloween are a lot less interesting than lobotomizing pumpkins, not to mention more violent. Occasionally, though, there are exceptions, like "The Nightmare Before Christmas." "Nightmare" sounds like a typical Tim Burton (director of "Batman" and sequel) film. Every year, Jack Skellington and various harmonizing scary creatures scare the daylights out of everyone during Halloween. But scaring people has lost its attraction for Jack, so he sets out to kidnap Santa Claus and stage his own misguided version of Christmas.

You've watched in terror the many Halloween flicks that feature a bunch of dumb teenagers (or young adults), abandoned against their will, in some less-than-inviting old mansion/cabin/summer camp/what have you, or in the midst of some forest/beach/isolated block of nature, and yet they decide -- against their instincts, despite your scolding them from your couch -- that it is, in fact, a good idea to proceed into the unknown. At night. And there's a full moon. People, get ready to live the dream.

Jennifer Davis was sick, terrified and deeply embarrassed for herself and family, especially for her father, a state prison captain back home in Illinois. The nightmare seemed about to worsen. One night, three Peruvian prison guards were gesturing at her as they began opening her cell. She knew exactly what they wanted. Summoning all of her energy, Davis, who does not speak Spanish, banged on the cell bars and shouted like a frightened, caged animal until the guards backed away.